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A woman in handcuffs and prison garb testified yesterday that she began a consensual sexual
relationship with lawyer Javier Armengau when she was 17 years old and he was representing her in a
divorce case.

She estimated that she had sex with him “close to 30 times” over the next 12 years, while he
served as her defense attorney in a variety of criminal cases. The woman, now 29, is serving a
30-month prison sentence for aggravated assault and child endangering.

Armengau’s defense attorneys objected to jurors hearing testimony from her and another
prosecution witness. The second witness was a prison inmate who said that Armengau made an
inappropriate sexual remark to her during a meeting about her case at the Franklin county jail.

Neither of the women’s experiences is included in the indictment filed against Armengau, 52, who
is on trial for charges of rape, sexual battery, gross sexual imposition, kidnapping and public
indecency in Franklin County Common Pleas Court.

Jurors already have heard from the five women whose allegations led to the criminal charges.
Each of the women had some connection to Armengau’s work as a criminal defense attorney.

“His right to a fair trial has been destroyed” if the prison inmates are allowed to testify,
defense attorney Jennifer Coriell told Judge David W. Fais in a hearing held after jurors were
excused from the courtroom. She argued that their testimony was unrelated to the indictment and
would merely serve to inflame the jury.

But Fais allowed the testimony after Assistant Ohio Attorney General Daniel Breyer argued that
the women’s stories would show Armengau’s “scheme, plan, purpose and motive.”

The inmate who said she began a sexual relationship with Armengau when she was 17 is the same
woman mentioned in a motion filed on Monday by the Columbus Bar Association, asking the Ohio
Supreme Court to immediately suspend Armengau’s law license.

The criminal trial will be in recess today to allow Armengau’s defense attorney Frederick Benton
time to file a response to the bar association’s motion.

The woman testified that she had intercourse with Armengau in his Marion office after he took
her to dinner for their first meeting about her divorce case in 2001 or 2002. She said that all of
their sexual encounters, including one on his boat at Lake Erie, were consensual and that he never
charged her for his legal work.

The other inmate testified that Armengau met her in an interview room at the jail after her
arrest on a murder charge. She said that he was speaking with her about her credibility problems as
a defendant and told her “he could rape me and it would be his word against mine.”

The woman testified that there was never any sexual contact between them, and he represented her
at a trial in which she was convicted of murder. She is serving 15 years to life at the Ohio
Reformatory for Women.

Both inmates said they don’t expect to get a reduced sentence for their testimony.

Earlier in the day, the last of five accusers concluded her testimony, saying she used Armengau
for his legal services because he had used her sexually.

“He abused me, he owes me a lot,” she said. “He used me, and I was using him after that.”

The comment came during cross-examination by Benton.

The 46-year-old woman denied that she ever dated Armengau or had a consensual sexual
relationship with him.

Armengau’s fate is heavily linked to her testimony. Five of the six rape counts and four of the
five sexual-battery counts are based on her allegations.

The woman, a native of Venezuela, testified that she hired Armengau to handle her divorce in
1998 and that he sexually abused her, threatening that she could be deported and separated from her
daughter if she didn’t comply. She said the abuse ended after she obtained a green card in
2003.